Just four out of 61 collective accommodation properties in the North of Malta have announced plans to close for the winter, the Secretariat for Tourism said this afternoon.

In a joint statement with the Resources Ministry, the secretariat said that it regretted a statement issued earlier today by the Malta Hotels and restaurants Association (MHRA).

That statement, it said, referred to an article published in The Times Business of Thursday 8th October, in which it is was stated that five hotels in the Buġibba area, namely The Qawra Inn Hotel (formerly The Palm Court Hotel), Seashells Resort (Suncrest), Primera Hotel, Palazzin Hotel and Coral Hotel would be closing down over the winter period.

"The MHRA statement regrettably fails to point out that The Qawra Inn Hotel has been ordered to close in terms of an enforcement order issued by the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) on the grounds that the property has been left in a state of neglect in breach of the applicable hotel standard regulations," the secretariat said.

"This enforcement order is being contested in Court by Mr Robbie Borg, the owner of the hotel. It is no coincidence that Mr Borg chose to give his comments to The Times Business on the same day that he had the Court hearing to try and lift the Enforcement Order."

The secretariat said the MHRA statement further failed to point out that The Seashells Resort (Suncrest), the Primera Hotel and the Coral Hotel would each be closing for three months, four weeks and six weeks respectively, to carry out general upkeep and maintenance. Nor did the MHRA statement point out that the decision by The Palazzin Hotel to close down for three months was in accordance with its five-year old policy which therefore included closure during the two record years of 2007 and 2008.

"Most regrettable is the fact that the MHRA statement seems to give the indication that the majority of the hotels in the Buġibba / Qawra / St Paul's Bay are closing when in fact the hotels indicated in The Times Business report that are closing for maintenance works represent only four properties out of 61 collective accommodation properties licensed in the northern area and that 93 % of these licensed establishments and hotel beds have chosen to operate throughout the whole year."

The closure of the hotels to carry out needed refurbishment and maintenance during the low season had to be seen within the context of the government's drive towards encouraging operators in the tourism industry to invest in upgrading and refurbishment programmes. This drive by government was taken in the context of surveys carried out by MTA amongst tourists about the need for an upgrade in the facilities offered by the lower category hotels, the secretariat said.

It pointed out that the government had this year issued a number of funding and subsidy schemes aimed at assisting these same operators to refurbish and upgrade their properties.

Turning to the state of the Buġibba / Qawra area, the ministry and the secretariat said that before the summer season a programme of road surfacing and major patching worth €500,000 was affected in Triq l-Ibħra, Triq l-Imħar, Triq Quintinos; Triq it-Turisti, Triq il-Qalb ta Ġesù; Dawret il-Qawra, Islet Promenade, Triq it-Trunċiera; Triq il-Plajja tal-Bognor; Triq Sant' Antnin, Triq Ġulju, Dawret il-Gżejjer and Triq il-Ħalel. Works on Triq id-Dolmen and Triq l-Imsell would be carried out in the next few weeks. General maintenance of the Qawra and Buġibba promenade was done before the summer by the Resources Ministry and the St Paul's Bay Local Council. The closure of open sites was also carried out by the MRRA.

Over the past few years, various projects were carried out to improve the general product of the Buġibba / Qawra / St Paul's Bay area. These included the perched beach in Buġibba at a cost of over €1 million which had obtained the Blue Flag Certificate. Over the next few months works on various EU funded projects worth over €12 million would commence. These included the construction of a new promenade from St Paul's Bay to the Menqa at the Gillieru area, the construction of a public aquarium at the Fra Ben area, and the upgrading of beach facilities along Qawra.

"The MRRA and the Parliamentary Secretariat for Tourism augur that instead of sweeping statements and easy generalisations, the MHRA and its members together with other stakeholders continue to work together to address the various challenges lying ahead" the ministry and the secretariat said.

See MHRA statement at:

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091012/local/bugibba-qawra-improvements-barely-scratch-the-surface-mhra